This spring, The Criterion Collection have both cult and classic movies on their mind, and their newly announced April slate will have for something for fans of either category — or both.
Kicking things off, Alex Cox's "Repo Man" finally arrives after being rumored for quite some time. The Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton starring flick uses a journey between a repo man and a young punk he takes under his wing to delve into Los Angeles and '80s America. The Criterion disc will come stacked with extras including commentary, interviews, deleted scenes and even the edited TV version, supervised by Cox. But oddly enough, there's not much about the soundtrack, though we guess that's what former Born Against member Sam McPheeters will cover in his essay.
For those looking for something a bit more high brow, Laurence Olivier's "Richard III" will get the wacky C. What is there to really say about this? The legend produced, starred and directed it, lined up a great cast — Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, and Claire Bloom — and shot the thing in VistaVision and Technicolor. The supplements are the standard commentary, interview, behind-the-scenes stuff, but most notable is a 12 minute trailer for the movie with Olivier, producer Alexander Korda, the cast and crew and much more.
Also arriving: Teinosuke Kinugasa's Academy Award winning "Gate Of Hell," an epic tale about a twelfth-century Japanese imperial warrior who falls for a lady-in-waiting, who even after he discovers she is married, goes to extreme lengths to win her love. Meanwhile, French comedy master Pierre Etaix gets a boxset featuring five of his films. Speaking of box sets, over on the Eclipse line "The Human Condition" helmer Masaki Kobayashi gets a set dedicted to four of his searing post WWII dramas.
Lastly, you can upgrade your copy of David Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch" as it goes Blu.